Editor’s Note: Last week, I sat down with Carl Raines. We talked about his role as the Morgan County Improvement Corporation (MCIC) Executive Director. The following story is what Raines says he does as the Executive Director of the MCIC. This report also talks about the Malta Industrial Complex building being selected as one of 18 finalists by a business from Illinois that is considering relocation to Ohio.
Raines has recently returned from a trip to St. Louis, earlier this month, where he gave a presentation to the owners of a small business with 41 employees. The business has expansion plans. Raines said he spoke to the business and their consulting firm about the Malta Industrial Complex main building, along with how the Malta, McConnelsville, Morgan County, and surrounding communities could work for them.
“Many of the site requests coming through JobsOhio have minimum requirements such as access to an interstate highway, certain size building requirements and utilities, public water and sewer availability, acreage requirements, workforce availability, career tech with area high schools, local tech colleges, job-training partnerships, and so on,” Raines said. “Many of the basic or minimum requirements are met at larger counties, given the larger communities have more to offer with local amenities, resources, and funding or financial assistance to relocate.”
Director Raines relayed that JobsOhio solicits and receives “projects” or proposals from various businesses in the U.S. and abroad that would consider Ohio as a state to expand and relocate. These requests or “projects” are forwarded to all economic development organizations in Ohio as they are received, with the respective checklist of what the potential business is looking for and its wants and needs.
In early August, this potential business relocation information was forwarded accordingly to economic development organizations across Ohio and to the Morgan County Improvement Corporation (“MCIC”). The name of the business and owners are not known at the time, and the request for information is typically up to 100 questions, along with a summary of the area.
“Given I felt that Damian’s main building, in the Malta Industrial Complex, met all the minimum requirements from the project information checklist, I met with Damian in August and shared my thoughts on where he needed to be on the lease price per square foot and a few other items to be competitive and considered.” Raines stated.”
Damian Lang stated that he knows Carl understands the lease per foot pricing to be competitive and where the price had to be to be considered when being compared with other markets and similar buildings.
“I have known and worked with Carl on other projects over the years and appreciate what he does for our businesses here, the MCIC organization and the county,” Lang concluded.
Once a project checklist and application has been submitted, the JobsOhio/ APEG personnel will review each submission to be certain the required checklist items have been met, then they forward it to the consulting firm and small business owners to review and select. For this particular business relocation project, 233 submissions were received from among four states. Of the submissions, 18 were selected to be interviewed and discussed, in St. Louis, on November 2, with seven of the 18 sites selected coming from Ohio. The Malta Industrial Complex site was one of the seven from within Ohio.
“Tom, our JobsOhio/APEG rep, from Zanesville, informed me at the end of October, that our Malta site was selected, along with a site in Norwich, in Muskingum County, for the presentation to the owners in St. Louis, the following week, and we needed a power point presentation ASAP,” Raines stated. “Damian Lang, myself and others, along with APEG personnel, organized the power point presentation over the next few days to be ready for the November 2, presentation,” Raines concluded.
Matt Abbott, Executive Director of the Zanesville/Muskingum County Port Authority, Tom Poorman APEG rep and Executive Director of the Morgan County Improvement Corporation Carl Raines, traveled to St. Louis to give their respective presentations.
“Since the APEG region of JobsOhio had two sites selected, Norwich and Malta, Matt and Carl would be presenting together,” stated Tom Poorman. “Both leaders of their respective economic development organizations were prepared and well received. Now, it is a waiting game to learn if our sites make the Final Four,” Poorman concluded.
“Overall, I felt very good with our presentations. Matt Abbott and the Zanesville/Muskingum County area had by far much more material to present and review in comparison to our area,” Raines stated. “However, if the owners prefer the quality of life in a small rural America town, family values and a strong work ethic, then we have a chance.”
The Morgan County Improvement Corporation and the Morgan County Business Development Center maintain an active list of available sites for development opportunities. Some of these include sites and buildings at the Malta Industrial Complex, north of Malta, the Malta Industrial Park, south of Malta and where EZ Grout is now located, and Damian Lang’s other site and building located on SR 60, south of McConnelsville, near the county line. The list also includes sites and acreage, around the Finley Fire Equipment property, owned by Joe Robb, Donald Jackson, Alan Adkins, and Adkins Lumber, and acreage and sites owned by the MCIC, and other similar properties around the villages and county.
Raines said it is a coemptive market, yet he knows the owners of this unnamed business that is planning to relocate somewhere, is seriously considering Morgan County.
“This is just some of what I do with the MCIC.” mentioned Executive Director Raines. “Hopefully, this company will strongly consider a move to Morgan County, so our residents that are looking for employment will have a place to work, and the deal will be a win/win for everybody involved.”
Morgan County Herald | November 22.2017
